Leica CL CL and Profoto A1

[Ron Weissman]

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I've had great results with the new Profoto A1, which is an event shooter's dream flash, beautiful light, massive capacity, and instantaneous flash recycling. I realize there are many Profoto haters out there, but for my event shooting, I've been extremely pleased with the A1 on a Canon as well as on a flash bracket using a Profoto Sony trigger. 

 

I'm using a Leica CL as a backup (small, light, wonderful quality TL lenses, excellent higher ISO performance) and wanted to see how the Profoto A1 would work (in manual mode, of course) on the CL. According to Profoto, all you need is a flash shoe/foot with a single center pin, which the CL has. But no matter what configuration I try (and, yes, with the manual switch on the A1 turned on), the flash will not fire. Leica's regular SF40 and 60 flashes work just fine, so I know that flash functionality isn't a problem. 

 

Any one have any suggestions?

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[jaapv]

Sometimes leicaflash shoes are a bit short. Check whether the foot puhes in far enough for the contact to engage.

[Ingo]

Which version do you use (Canon, Nikon?)

I have no issues with the Nikon A1 on the SL and will check it with the CL later.

 

Edit: To my knowledge the Canon version does not work, you need a Nikon version. 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Ingo

[lx1713]

Yes. That's the problem I experienced with the A1. The pin cannot reach the contact on the hotshot. I only realised it a month or so later.  Thought the A1 was faulty.

[lx1713]

I've had great results with the new Profoto A1, which is an event shooter's dream flash, beautiful light, massive capacity, and instantaneous flash recycling. I realize there are many Profoto haters out there, but for my event shooting, I've been extremely pleased with the A1 on a Canon as well as on a flash bracket using a Profoto Sony trigger. 

 

I almost paid the down payment on the first handling but when it failed with the SL, that stopped me.

 

I agree, it's really nice, even though I haven't used it yet. May have to go back to Canon when it's mostly flash jobs. The SF64 is quite a pain to use. I was quite close to selling off my Canons except for the matter of flash on the SL.

[LocalHero1953]

Certainly with some other hotshoe devices (e.g. pocketwizards) you need the Nikon version - the Canon version will not work even for dumb triggering.

Edited December 18, 2017 by LocalHero1953

[Ingo]

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Which version do you use (Canon, Nikon?)

 

I have no issues with the Nikon A1 on the SL and will check it with the CL later.

 

Edit: To my knowledge the Canon version does not work, you need a Nikon version. 

 

The Nikon version works on the CL. I've tested it right now. 

[Ron Weissman]

Thanks, everyone, for your commentary.  That was exactly my fear, that the Profoto pin on the Canon version wasn't long enough.  Glad to hear that other models work. At least I know now what the problem is. 

 

RW

[DJGR33R]

The Nikon version works on the CL. I've tested it right now. 

Hi Ingo

 

Can you please confirm that the Profoto A1 (Nikon version) works on the Leica CL. I can get mt Profoto AIR TTL Triggers to work on my SL but they don't work on the CL so i am concerned that the A1 will also not work on the CL.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Regards

 

David 

[sillbeers15]

Hi Ingo

 

Can you please confirm that the Profoto A1 (Nikon version) works on the Leica CL. I can get mt Profoto AIR TTL Triggers to work on my SL but they don't work on the CL so i am concerned that the A1 will also not work on the CL.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Regards

 

David

If it were only manual trigger of A1 or B2 via AIR-TTL, can you control Light intensity vis AIR-TTL?

[DJGR33R]

B2 only works on the SL on manual - no TTL capability

[Ingo]

You can attach the A1 (Nikon version) onto the CL. Check.

You can use an Air Remote Trigger for remote control. (I'm not sure if the Air-TTL for Nikon works because I don't own one. The Canon version definetly does not work).

[DJGR33R]

Thanks, I have figured it out. The battery output from the CL is not strong enough to trigger the dedicated Nikon Profoto AIR TTL-N trigger. But it can fire the simpler Profoto Air Trigger which is what I will now need to buy. The SL battery output is higher and can fire the Nikon Profoto Air TTL-N trigger with no difficulty.